Did you know Aamir Khan panicked over Karan Johar and forced a huge change to A.R. Rahman’s ‘O Rey Chhori’ song?
When you hum ‘O Rey Chhori‘, you probably picture the lead pair, Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh twirling in rustic romance. But behind the scenes, this Lagaan gem had a very different journey.
Recently, at Spotify’s first-ever live recording of ‘Behind the Beats’ — a special event, celebrating Lagaan and its soundtrack, the film’s music director AR Rahman revealed that he had originally created the tune of ‘O Rey Chhori’ for his for famous 1997 independence album Maa Tujhe Salaam, not for Lagaan.
In its first version, the tune was incredibly slow and emotional. When Rahman played it for Aamir Khan, the the perfectionist actor was far from impressed.
Aamir was stressed because his movie was releasing at the same time as Karan Johar’s star-studded film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Everyone knew Karan Johar’s movies films had massive, catchy romantic hits. Aamir asked Rahman, “What have you done?
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To save the song, Rahman decided to speed up the tempo. He turned the slow melody into the upbeat folk track, and the rest is history!
There is another brilliant secret hidden in this song. While the main Hindi lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar, the track famously switches into an English opera style halfway through. Those English lines were actually written by Farhan Akhtar and his sister Zoya Akhtar.
When reflecting on how his kids ended up writing part of a hit soundtrack at the event, Javed Akhtar joked that these are simply the benefits of paying to send your children to college.
Released in 2001, Lagaan, set against the backdrop of colonial India, revolves around how villagers led by Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) challenge the British to a game of cricket to escape oppressive taxes. Helmed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, the period sports drama was also India’s official entry to Oscars.
